68 days to go – Art, and flags and boats and…

Yay! I’m so glad I can access my publishing platform again! Sorry for the delay with this post but everything is working again, so here goes!

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I am going to cover a few little bits and bobs today. There has been quite a bit going on, announcements of new art projects, a flag walk, things happening in False Creek and elsewhere on the water, not to mention another great weekend by our Canadian athletes! Medals were picked up this weekend in long track speed skating, alpine skiing, and skeleton!

So let’s start with the art. There are a lot of wonderful art installations and programs planned for during the Games, and Patti brought one to my attention the other day. The project is called Bright Light and it will be taking place along the new Carrall Street Greenway in both indoor and outdoor venues. Not sure what the Carrall Street Greenway is? I wasn’t either! It’s a new bikeway and pedestrian route meant to link False Creek with Burrard Inlet! Currently, if you start a trip along SeaWall say in Yaletown on False Creek, you can bike or walk around Stanley Park to Canada Place easily, head through Gastown (relatively easily) but then getting back down to False Creek has definitely been trickier, especially on a bike. While there are bike routes, they are on main traffic corridors, and as a relatively inexperienced city rider I can tell you those routes are a bit scary! But this Greenway sounds like a great idea!

A portion of the design plan.

OK – back to the art… 🙂 Along this corridor a number of interesting projects are planned. There is going to be dancing, parades, a choreographed “Rumble” and, what I think will be very interesting, a multi-city tea party! They will be projecting live images of tea parties occurring in other cities so that everyone is having tea together. Neat! More details and plans are being finalized but you can visit the website for Bright Light now and keep your eyes peeled for updates!

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Next up – FlagWalk! This is such a cool idea! The business improvement associations of Yaletown and South Granville have installed flag-patterned decals of nearly 80 countries that will be attending the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games along the streets of their neighbourhoods!

Installing a Canada Flag decal in Yaletown

This map shows where FlagWalk is installed

Oh! And if you read the Vancouver Sun, don’t forget to look for the FlagWalk contest! You could win a trip around the world!! (I missed this entirely and we get the Sun, I gotta go dig through the recycling now 😀 )!

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We are getting some interesting Russian visitors! With the next Winter Olympics and Paralympics being held in Sochi in 2014 the Russian’s have some fun things planned for Vancouver! They already have Science World booked to be Russia Sochi 2014 House, and now there is a 4-masted barque (a really big wooden ship!) called the Kruzenshtern sailing to Vancouver from Kaliningrad with 120 cadets aboard! The ship should be arriving shortly before the beginning of the Games and they’re planning on offering public tours, and hoping that they’ll be granted a permit to do short tour cruises as well. Apparently this ship is the second largest of its kind in the world! That’s pretty impressive. And as such, it will be on the Burrard Inlet side of the water as it will be much too big to fit under the bridges to visit Science World!

The Kruzenshtern

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One more on the topic of boats… while not strictly related, the Carol Ships are on now, and if you go while they’re in Coal Harbour you’ll see the Olympic Rings! But, if you go while they’re cruising through False Creek you can book a Granville Island Ferry for you and your friends to travel along with the Carol Ships. While the Ferries are heated they advise you to dress warm, bring some warm beverages and your caroling voice! One of these days I’m going to do this… I seem to keep running out of time! 😀

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OK! I give! That’s plenty for today even though there are more things that I’d like to write about. I will try to get them in tonight (or possibly first thing tomorrow morning as my staff Christmas party is tonight!).

Though I will put in one last comment – don’t forget to enter to win a 2010vanfan.ca pin!! There are two ways to get entered. The first is here on my blog and the second way is to join the 2010vanfan group on Facebook! Here’s how to enter on the blog:

1. Comment on this post, or any post between now and the evening of Monday, December 7th.

2. In your comment, tell all of us what you are most looking forward to during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In response to your latest contest I was trying to think of what I was most looking forward to during the games and although I’m going to one of the womens’ hockey preliminary games and to a victory cermemony I couldn’t actually say what I was most looking forward to. I think that it’s because I have no idea what to expect and when I try to think of how the lower mainland will be transformed and all the visitors coming here I am overwhelmed. I am looking forward to checking out some of the free sites and venues. But I guess what I am most looking forward to is welcoming the world and all the excitement and changes that have happened because of it.

Watching all the athletes of the world chase their dreams will be the highlight of the Games for me. There will be joy, heartbreak and other emotions at each and every event. I hope that it is a truly memorable time for all the participants and fans alike.
Come on Canada show the world what a terrific country we are!

My 9-year old son is so looking forward to seeing Sidney Crosby in the Canada vs. Norway Hockey Game and Alexander Ovechkin plus Evgeni Malkin in the Russia vs. Latvia game. The ultimate dream would be if we could get Michael’s Canada Hockey Shirt signed by Crosby.

No worries though, he is also armed with pins to trade since this is the Number 1 Olympic Tourist Sport! He’s got a Russia one from the Calgary Olympics to give to Ovechkin if we should meet him!

No doubt you are also giving us lots of options for other great things to see and do and we are noting those that are of interest. The Russian ‘Kruzenshtern’ looks like something a big uncle and little nephew just might like to explore!

I’m looking forward to watching curling. I was able to work at the Hillcrest during the curling events and got totally into the excitement of curling. It was something that I never thought I would get into. I’m now a fan of curling.